An umbrella won’t do you any good. A surfboard might not, either; these breakers have indomitable force. Running away is pointless, too.

This Full Moon is a lunar eclipse, escalating everything unfolds under it into larger-than-life proportions. What’s cresting is beyond mortal power. It will find you, no matter where you go.

Better to let the waters wash over (and out of) you. Better still to dive right in. The ride will be exhilarating, purgative, curative and, ultimately, a relief. And you’ll end up on dry land. Eventually.

You’ve been feeling the build-up to this, whether you recognized the signs for what they were. The month has been edgy, unsettling to the point of physical discomfort and motivating, inviting look after look at situations big and small that scream for improvement.

A lot of them, if you’re honest with yourself, have been hovering for some time. The skies have targeted them in a massive clean-up and resetting campaign, and we’ve reached the most intense, inescapable phase.

We’re in the next to last round of a cycle of eclipses on the Virgo/Pisces axis, which started in March 2015 and winds up next spring. They’ve had us ping-ponging between extremes of utterly earthbound, rational existence and utterly unhinging from the earthly.

That cycle kicked off with a Pisces New Moon at the last degree of the zodiac, so emotionally powerful that it sent people with a heavy chart emphasis in water to their beds. The current Full Moon is in the neighborhood, just a few degrees away. Instead of knocking us on our backs, though, this month’s is propelling us to action — and communication.

This lunar eclipse is in complex astrological company, which is transitioning us from a dying way of being in the world to the way that will be the new normal. This Full Moon is an ideal follow-up to the Virgo triple-whammy that launched that process: the solar eclipse on the 1st, with Mercury retrograding in late Virgo and Jupiter ending a year-long trip through the sign.

After the clean-up and reorganizational spree that line-up unleashed, what better final touch than power washing our lives with an emotional blast or two? It’s like spraying suds and debris off a deck after scrubbing it down. Only a little messier. The power wash is showing situations in a way we haven’t quite perceived until now.

This Full Moon is teeming with revelations, exponentially more so than most lunar eclipses (which are generally off the charts in this department). Thank a shift in the machinations of the cosmic fog machine. It’s been on overdrive since late last year, the byproduct of a protracted clash between Saturn, lord of form, and Neptune, lord of all that defies form (and ruler of the Pisces Moon).

Their conflict is behind the vagueness, weirdness and confounding, credulity-defying statements and behaviors that have enveloped us since late last year. The two planets squared off for the last time on the 10th and are slowing backing away from battle.

As the fog evaporates, backstories are emerging; masks are dropping; lies and conceits are being revealed; explanations for all manner of mysteries are tumbling forth.

And as we see more and more what has been going on in front of us, or behind our backs, or in the fog, the lid is flying off emotions. Ignored, buried or denied ones are pouring out with an especially uncontrollable, physically uncomfortable power.

The combo — reality-tilting revelations plus tsunami-force emotions — is motivating us to Do Something.

So is Mars, god of war and ruler of the masculine and our drive and energy. The Sun and the Moon are squeezing him in a dynamic configuration called a t-square. The pressure demands action, so not only ia the lunar eclipse coaxing out emotions and revelations like crazy, but we are acting and reacting. Maybe like crazy, maybe not.

Since Mars is in Sagittarius, the resulting action is spontaneous and high-energy. It may have an element of putting beliefs in motion, perhaps forcefully or with a touch of anger. It may also have a premeditated streak, even with notes of maturity and commitment, reflecting the marching orders that Mars received from order-loving Saturn at the end of August.

Then again, it might be daring to the point of recklessness. Mars is in a direct easy flow to Uranus, agent of radical change, in leap-first, look-later Aries. Fired up by this pair, emotional expression promises to be bold, abrupt and risky, revealing personal truth and letting chips fall where they may.

Whatever we feel, whatever we realize, whatever we express, we are not keeping it to ourselves. The pressure has Mars shooting arrows across the zodiac into Gemini, aka Cosmic Communication Central. We’re broadcasting the effects of this eclipse far and wide, face to face and across social media. (Invoke that Saturnian caution and remind yourself: anything you post online becomes part of your permanent record.)

The playing out is loud, messy, at times overwhelming and ultimately cathartic. Chapters are ending. Doors are slamming and bolting behind us. Many situations will never be the same, and neither will we.

Good thing, too. The waters pouring forth have profound therapeutic properties, with wounded healer Chiron traveling close by the Moon. His presence acts as a cosmic solvent, washing away the illusion of isolation as well as tendencies to soak up, carry and drown in other people’s pains, burdens and sorrows.

The mind can’t stop it. It can’t even overanalyze effectively, at this point. Chiron is opposing Mercury, ruler of the mind and the Virgo Sun. The positioning is putting the whammy on Mercury, overpowering the mind and permeating thoughts, words and messages with compassion, forgiveness and healing on all levels.

Fight it, block it, or dive into it. We will ultimately feel tremendously better, as the eclipse’s effects unroll over the next six months. First signs of relief may well show up as September ends and fades into October.

So take a deep breath. You can’t hold back, much less stop, whatever’s coming. Face it. The skies are providing plenty of courage and fuel; dive straight in. The ride will be wild; it’s true. But the process will be gentler in the long run.

This year’s Virgo New Moon targets the uncertainty, tentativeness and just plain weirdness that have characterized so much of the year.

None are a match for the wallop of a reset this Moon is activating. It’s bringing clarity, stabilizing and a greater awareness of where exactly this year has been leading.

They come with an air of purifying and simplifying, of inevitability bordering on fatedness, and also a touch of relief. No more floating, wondering and feeling unable to get off center. We’re starting to get somewhere, at last.

The playing out will continue for months, not just weeks. What happens in September alone, though, is enough to take our breath away, not to mention specific people and situations to boot.

Appropriately for Virgo, work is a package deal with these gifts. This New Moon comes with a massive clean-up campaign, mentally, physically and energetically. The coinciding has a pronounced whiplash effect, jerking attention to various points in the past (from last month to 1997) at the same time it yanks us decidedly forward.

This Moon is a solar eclipse, the characteristic responsible for the massive reset, reboot and power-up we’re undergoing. It’s launching the next to last round of the current eclipse cycle, which began at spring 2015 and continues into March of 2017. (They hearken back to 1997-98, so themes from that time may be spiraling back for examination and reworking as well.)

This cycle is on the Virgo/Pisces axis, which spans the extremes of worldly existence and unhooking from the physical: logic vs. faith, intactness vs. immersion, service vs. martyrdom, health vs. addiction, practicality vs. transcendence.

Since September of last year, the first of each of those pairs has called for greater attention, with Jupiter bringing his powers of optimism and expansion to them as he’s traveled through Virgo. He finishes this current tour of duty on the 8th, which makes this New Moon part of the wrap-up and ending of the process of the last 12 months.

Jupiter’s imminent departure is one cause behind the look back, work and clean-up vibe of this New Moon. Another comes from Virgo’s ruler Mercury, god of gab, gadgets and getting around.

Mercury is exactly conjunct with Jupiter, acting in complete unity, at this New Moon. The cosmic messenger has just begun a three-week retrograde through Virgo. His contact with Jupiter — the guy who ups any action he’s around — makes the impulses of the retrograde bigger, bigger, bigger as the two planets move apart.

Their teamwork means that we’ve been through some of this territory before and likely had hints then of what is transpiring now. (Particularly where unhealthy boundaries, habits and situations are concerned. You already know what they are.)

The double action also adds to the drama and magnitude of what’s unfolding. And dramatic it is.

Even with the beginnings and cycle-start inherent in a New Moon, any eclipse, even a solar, always entails a blackout and departures. It’s akin to a scene change in a play: The stage goes dark, the crew moves props and set pieces in and out, and players exit, enter and take new places.

The twist this time is that when the lights go back on, cleaning tools and supplies are on the stage. We’ll be tidying up after the previous act(s) while saying our lines and moving the current action forward.

Despite the clarity and precision of Virgo, we do not know exactly what we’re dealing with, as this New Moon begins. Cracker smoke is filling the stage. Some people are wearing masks. The set is in disarray and confusion.

Go with your instincts. The New Moon is traveling with the North Node of destiny, which is working like a tractor beam guiding us forward, whether we consciously know it or not. Its presence adds to the pervasive irreversible, life-changing, fated quality of all the comings, goings and developments under this eclipse.

Your instincts are also more reliable than surface evidence just now. Not only are Neptune and his cosmic fog machine opposing the New Moon, but they are also gearing up for the last of three exact squares to Saturn, coming September 10.

The lord of formlessness has been butting heads with the lord of form all year, and their clash has spun off clouds of lies, confusion and weirdness in general that’s put sanity in widespread question. Some of that is infusing the New Moon, and will stay with us (sigh) as the eclipse’s effect stretches into next year.

Take heart, though: Some of those clouds will in fact clear, or at least begin to die back, this month. Mercury’s retrograde is taking him within spitting distance of the mutable grand cross that suspended us in mid-air in June. His journey is made for big reveals, along the lines of Toto pulling a curtain back and exposing a little man working the controls behind the booming voice and floating head of Oz.

The revelations will take care of themselves. So will the reboots, resets, and refreshings. Resistance is futile. This Virgo eclipse is wielding an insistent cosmic broom that sweeps very clean indeed.

Work with it. God is in the details, and you may be surprised at how a seemingly insignificant one turns out to be a turning point. You’re cleaning, improving and protecting the boundaries for more than you may realize. Including a launch pad that will prove pivotal at the end of the year.

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This week’s plot twists drive the next three months…the next six months…and the next 19 years. No wonder everything feels so monumental. Be honest; you’re relieved. And ready to turn your back on staleness. Too many satisfying delights await. Brush off those cobwebs and leap onward.

March is a game changer. It launches with words and ideas kicking us into action and ends with desires and perspectives blowing wide open. In between is a combination tsunami and whirlwind of activity, emotional, mental and in the circumstances of our lives. Comings and goings, blossomings and endings, cleaning up and clearing out consume the month. In their wake they leave a blend of catharsis, relief, emotional outpouring and firm resolve. And likely spinning heads.

Not surprisingly, March is one of the most astrologically action-packed months of the year. Its four weeks contain two eclipses (one pumping the gas pedal on a cycle, the other wrapping a cycle up), more work on the upheaval of the last four years, and three planets changing signs.
Amid so much activity, each beat will be hard to distinguish. Instead, it will feel like we’re being hit with successive waves. Some of them grow out of the previous one, some are resurgences of the past (eight months, a year, 18 months, four years and 19 years ago are probable time frames), and some will come from places our conscious mind has no ability to pinpoint.

The Pisces New Moon on the 8th is the first eclipse, a solar. Bigger-is-better Jupiter and Chiron, influence of healing, are in the mix. They’re making emotions, boundary and underdog issues and longstanding wounds crest into tsunamis, washing away some people and situations while depositing or anointing others.

Although the waters are surging and receding for weeks, the ebb tides reveal surprisingly stable ground. Jupiter is making the second of three assists to Pluto, the agent of unavoidable change. (The other two were last September and will be again in June.) Their teamwork is beaming right into the construction zone you know as the areas of your life that have undergone utter upheaval in the past four years.

The effect is two-sided. On the positive end, new or rebuilt structures are taking on more solid contours. Supports are sinking deeper. On the less immediately pleasant end, Jupiter’s golden light is reaching deeper into cracks that have opened up in recent years. No end of frightened and frightening psychological beasties are crawling to the surface. (Just look at the news, and behavior on social media.) Watch for stirrings, of your own, of your friends’, and neutralize the beasties gently. “I wish you all the love and happiness I wish for myself” is a useful mantra. Say it even if you don’t mean it. To yourself, of course. Voicing that to someone’s face could get you punched, in the current climate.

Chapters are closing in relationships, our attitudes toward them and our operating ground rules with the second eclipse, the Libra Full Moon on the 23rd. All have been up for resetting and rebooting since October 1993. Since then we’ve reached increasing awareness of compromises and settling that can not continue. Even with the adjustments we’ve already made or experienced, with this lunar eclipse come decisive strikes underscored with “And I really mean it!”

Throughout all of this, logic is hardly the navigational system. Mercury, the planet the rules our thoughts, words and how we get around, unhooks all of his terrain from the rational and concrete when he travels through Pisces from February 5-21. Telepathy, impressions and osmosis will abound. They’ll carry more reliability than anything you read, hear or see. When they contradict empirical evidence, trust them.

Starting with the 21st, communication and transportation shift to Aries and leap first, think later mode. Though more more energetic, bold and decisive than Pisces, this mode is another flavor of intuition and instinct, going on gut rather than thinking about and evaluating evidence and plans of action.

We get a foretaste of this forceful, aggressive potential at the month’s start, when Mercury slams into Mars, lord of war and the ruler of Aries, and shoves minds, mouths and tempers into action. That same day, March 5, Mercury heads for Pisces (see above) and Mars enters Sagittarius. Agendas, motivations and drives become more energetic and fiery. Optimism and humor are on the rise, but so are jingoism (“My way or the highway”) and arguing over politics and theories. Physical activity is a safe outlet.

Fortunately, our hearts are not gearing up for battle. Venus, goddess of love, money and creativity, is moving into Pisces, the sign of higher love and her exaltation, on the 12th. This shift stirs a potential for compassion, kindness and gentleness, an awareness of others (some call that empathy), and an appreciation of the arts, romance and other escapes from mundane reality.

She tells Mars what she wants in no uncertain terms on the 14th. (Sparks fit for a screwball comedy could fly!) On the 20th, she dissolves in blissful communion with Pisces’ ruler Neptune. What she wants — and, by extension, what we’re looking for — mushrooms and demands satisfaction on the 25th, the very day that Saturn goes retrograde. Between then and his turnaround mid-August, we’ll be researching and tying up loose ends (perhaps legalities) to bring those desires into tangible form. An opportunity to get a taste of them opens on the 26th.

More importantly, her Piscean cloaking bodes well for coming through this month’s tumult decently, civilly and even lovingly. Let love for all beings guide your actions (say it even if you choke on it, please), and let that love begin with yourself. Exude that and endings will proceed with less rancor, while the new beginnings and blossoming of next stages will be all the more sweet.

This year’s Virgo Full Moon encourages spring cleaning a month ahead of the usual schedule. And as with so many jobs, this one begins on the inside.

Our perception of our identity and personality is the starting point. Recent weeks have brought our thinking, priorities and goals into sharper focus. The rocket power of the Aquarius New Moon on February 8 has broken us out of situations, patterns and perspectives and lit a fire in our bellies. Now we’re moving into awareness of how we feel and seeing ourselves differently, too.

Our sense of self is blurring, softening and in some ways dissolving. This process comes from the Sun’s approach to Neptune, ruler of Pisces and all things transcendent and escapist. It will only escalate as the Sun moves across this influence, which is the most unhinged from worldly experience. For some of us, this means a not-yet-defined sense of needing some bigger purpose or more creative, spiritual or personally meaningful experience of ourselves. For others, it translates into confusion about who we are — or want to be — at this point.

It’s as if we’ve stepped out of the shower and are looking into a mirror that’s fogged over. This Moon is handing us a towel so we can wipe the fog away and see ourselves. The symbolic towel uses emotions to clear the fog, but not with the watery, gushy expression we usually associate with feelings. Virgo is the most analytical, evaluative Moon, running emotional experience through the mind and a perspective that’s bent on tidying up and improvement.

Adding to the logic-driven (or, at least, intellectual) nature of this process is the trend toward stabilizing, ordering and concretizing we’re currently undergoing in how and what we’re thinking, in our information flow and in how we communicate. Cosmic messenger Mercury, ruler of our minds as well as Virgo, is moving into a cooperative link with Saturn, lord of structure. Concepts are taking shape and coming down to earth, along with both a big-picture perspective and awareness of ramifications, consequences and the imperative to take responsibility for our thoughts and words.

Who is that person in the mirror? Who is it now? (Not last year, or a few years ago, or when you were growing up.) How do you feel about what you see? Take note of the words you use to describe and define yourself. How do those make you feel? Form follows thought. Words have consequences — especially now, with Saturn and Neptune loosening and tightening a tension that gives words the power of magic spells. How could you describe yourself more positively, lovingly and compassionately? How could you upgrade your definitions? What if you were to define yourself more in terms of the dreams and creativity you’re bringing into being (i.e., where you’re going), instead of where you’ve been?

Two more lines of questions are particularly worthwhile. How do you feel about all that recently honed clarity, the changing and rearranging in goals, perspective and relationships, and the developments you’ve experienced so far this year? It is right and appropriate to think over your reactions to all this, to chew and analyze and process and then assimilate. What is your heart telling you (granted, in a Mr. Spock way)? Would you benefit from cleaning up your thinking? From consciously reviewing what you believe to be true about yourself, and updating that inner list?

And what of yourself are you showing to the rest of the world? All that recently honed clarity is affecting the face you present, perhaps more than you realize. Can you consciously help that process? Can you bring that face more in line with your new inner clarity? Is the face you are showing true to your beliefs? Is there room for improvement? (Virgo can always find something to tweak.)

Look outward to others, too. It may be time to clean up certain situations. Or clean them out. We’re making room. This is the only Virgo Full Moon we’ll have (for 12 years) with expansive, beneficent Jupiter in the sign. He’s currently amplifying the road sign to the future (the North Node of the Moon) and making it increasingly hard to miss. He’s coaxing our vision from where we’ve been and turning it toward where we’re going, collectively and individually.

Set your own stamp on that path. Make time, amid the analyzing and tidying, for bundling all the symbolism of this forecast into some magic work. (Neptune is the planet of magic, after all.) Look into a mirror — a physical one — and say out loud who you are and who you are becoming. Play make believe, too. An Abraham game would be appropriate: finishing the phrase, “Wouldn’t it be fun if?”

January launches 2016 in clouds of soft, swirling fog. It’s a fitting start, given the atmosphere that will be with us through the summer. Grab your favorite grounding stones; turn on your fog lights and internal GPS. They are in for a workout.

What is real and what is an illusion is an ongoing puzzle, and this month puts us through our paces grappling with it. The origin of the puzzle is still going strong, a shoving match between forces of structure and order (Saturn) and forces that evade and dissolve structure and order (Neptune).

Now comes a companion influence that not only amplifies vagueness, confusion and reasons to question someone’s sanity, but also makes them inescapable and personal. This one holds the promise of epiphanies, clarity and mundane, bankable answers by the end of the month. Hang on to that as the journey progresses, because it promises one weird ride indeed.

Just when our minds are on the brink of flying again, finally, we plummet back to earth. January brings a confounding jumble of snarls, glitches and malfunctions in communicating and getting around. Yes, it’s time again for Mercury retrograde, when the usual rules of operation go out the window for information flow, technology and transportation.

This year has four Mercury retrogrades instead of the usual three. The first one runs from January 5 – 25. It starts with the motivation in place to confront, dive deep and research, qualities that come in handy for this transit. That comes when Mars, ruler of our drive, plunges into Scorpio on January 3. He kicks Mercury as the messenger slows to turn around on Jan. 5, and off we go.

He’s just getting a taste of objectivity and swift-footedness at the gateway of Aquarius when the about-face drags him back down to the methodical, practical, long-term perspective of Capricorn, on Jan. 8. Brace to be hypersensitive to all. His return to this terrain comes with a triple whammy of practicalities: impulses to rethink, reorganize and improve (thank Jupiter turning retrograde in Virgo on the 7th), a decided seriousness in matters of the heart and money (Venus meeting Saturn on the 8th) and the Capricorn New Moon (also on the 8th), which launches a four-week refresher course in adulthood.

For the rest of the retrograde, mishaps, confusion and deceptions will involve or lead to consequences, responsibility, ramifications and real-world costs, some of which touch on relationships and financial arrangements. Use the trip-ups as an opportunity to learn more about the structures and goals emerging from the last few years of upheaval. Be on the lookout for greater understanding and self-acceptance (even optimism!) on the 14th, new perspectives on the 20th and 31st, and profound clarity and determination on the 22nd and 30th.

It’s not all work and no play (though at times you may wonder). Venus is in happy-go-lucky mode most of the month, encouraging bright spirits and the ability to laugh at the ongoing carnival show. Desires grab the steering wheel by the 12th as wild cards and breakthroughs shake up relationships and other matters that are deeply important to us. The aftermath is personal satisfaction, the aforementioned understanding and self-acceptance, and shouting all of that to the world. (Or at least, someone closely connected to the saga.) Following that comes wanting more, more, more — contact, socializing, love, cash, you name it — with a light, loving touch of empathy and compassion that could yield real-world magic. (Or the treatment for a chick flick.)

Cobwebs begin clearing when the Sun enters Aquarius on the 20th. They blow out noticeably by the Full Moon in that sign on the 23rd. Tilted into new perspectives, our hearts and mode of relating put the desire for fun aside and focus on long-term value, with Venus moving into Capricorn. We aren’t laughing so much anymore; we’re tapping a finger on the table and saying, “Ante up.” Cue “Santa Baby;” it’ll fit, no matter what the calendar says.

We may well get some of what we ask for, in tangible, reliable form. An intangible but no less valuable bonus is on the way as well. The month ends with a neat tie-in to the source of that ongoing question, what is real and what is illusion. Venus, goddess of all we hold dear, is under the command of Saturn (lord of structure, remember) and receives a helping hand on the 30th from Neptune (ruler of all ways of escaping from or transcending earthly existence). As a door opens between the cosmic overseers of earthly and highest love, real magic can show up here on terra firma. The opportunity is at hand for a dream coming into physical being. Don’t just stand there. Make like a midwife and coach it out.